Akuma
"You dare challenge ME?" —Akuma when first on line-up '' " How absurd!" '' —Akuma's winning quote "It´s always fun to kill a god." '' ''—Akuma before fighting Thor'' Akuma, known in Japan as Gouki, is a video game character created by Capcom. Originally appearing in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a secret character and hidden boss, he has red hair, wears prayer beads around his neck, and wears a black gi (occasionally displayed as blue in artwork). The kanji 'ten' (天) - meaning "sky", "heaven", or "providence" - can be seen on his back when it appears during certain win animations. Capcom had stated that the symbol on his back meant "immortal" for Akuma even though there are many different translations. He is voiced by Tomomichi Nishimura in many of the games in which he has appeared. Backstory Akuma and his brother Gouken were students of Goutetsu. Goutetsu taught a life-threatening martial art. He also taught Shun Goku Satsu (literally Instant Hell Murder or The Raging Demon), a death technique which, although incredibly powerful, puts the user in considerable danger. As the brothers progressed under Goutetsu's tutelage, a dispute arose on the true nature of their fighting style and the path to master it. Gouken, unable to accept the violent nature of their art, left Goutetsu to begin his own dojo. Akuma continued Goutetsu's teachings and vowed to use their fighting style as it was intended. In order to learn Shun Goku Satsu, Akuma embraced the principle of Satsui no Hadō or (The Surge of the Intent to Murder/Murderous Intent). Through Satsui no Hadō, Akuma was forced to give up any compassion he held towards other human beings. In addition, Akuma realized his limits as a martial artist could be expanded, and left Goutetsu's guidance to train alone. His return marked the end for Goutetsu - Akuma demonstrated his strength by killing his former master with Shun Goku Satsu. Goutetsu fell with an inner joy, realizing his pupil was attempting to master the Satsui no Hadou. Akuma removed the beaded necklace from Goutetsu's neck and placed it around his own. Sometime later, Akuma challenged and fought his brother. With Gouken gaining the upper hand, Akuma was eventually struck down. Akuma requested death in defeat, however his brother had no intention of killing him. Akuma, vowing to return, left Gouken. Years later, he returned; they fought again, and this time Gouken was thought to have been killed (SFIV states he performed a Soul Evacuation, which allowed him to survive the Shun Goku Satsu). Ken saw the battle as he was returning from the U.S. Martial Arts tournament. Rushing to the dojo to find it in shambles and his master dead, an enraged Ken ran into the surrounding woods searching for the killer. Akuma easily defeated Ken and disappeared. Gouken's other student Ryu soon learned of his master's death and began to search for Akuma. Several other renditions of the Street Fighter story talk of Ryu finding Gouken's body (after falling to Akuma), who then travels the world to find Akuma. These renditions also '''talk' of Ryu's potential to harness "Satsui no Hadō", giving him the ability to transform into Evil Ryu (first found in Street Fighter Alpha 2). Akuma began to search the globe looking for worthy fighters to challenge. Secluding himself in the shadows, he watched small tournaments and street fights, desperately seeking someone who might be able to match his strength. He was eventually challenged by a man named Gen. Gen fought a vicious battle. He had even survived the Shun Goku Satsu by emptying his soul in time. Akuma began to wonder if this man was the worthy opponent he was searching for. However, he began to sense not all was as it seemed and when Gen's mouth began to bleed Akuma's suspicions were confirmed, his opponent was sick, and the fight was not fair. After being knocked to the ground, Gen told Akuma to kill him. Not wanting to carry the fight on any longer, Akuma left, infuriating Gen. After the fight, Akuma became obsessed with Ryu and awakened the "Dark Intent". Ryu eventually found Akuma's island (known as Onigami Isle or the Gokuentou) and challenged him. The intense battle that followed ended in a draw; Akuma was impressed as this was the closest he had come to a defeat yet. Telling Ryu to find him again when he had embraced the Satsui no Hadō, Akuma struck his island with a powerful blow and disappeared. The island fell apart around Ryu, who was left in the ocean to contemplate Akuma's words. Leaving his destroyed abode, Akuma thought about all the fighters he had encountered and wondered with excitement if one day he would fight someone strong enough to kill him in battle. This thought drove him on, finding a desolate cavern (also known as Kiga Cave) he began to train and await the day he would fight Ryu again. Two years later, Akuma began to search once more for worthy fighters whilst awaiting Ryu to embrace the Satsui no Hadō. He could have possibly fought Adon at this time and killed him (as Adon had been searching for Akuma, yet was never heard from again). He encountered Gen once more and fought a final battle (the results of which are still unclear). However, unknown to Akuma, Ryu had rejected the Satsui no Hadō, declaring that a true warrior does not rely on violent intents. Akuma did not officially enter the second World Warrior tournament. He jumped into M. Bison's arena and performed a Shun Goku Satsu on Bison, killing him, and sending his soul to hell. As with the second World Warrior tournament, Akuma did not enter the third World Warrior tournament, but once more lurked in the shadows. He even successfully pulled off a Shun Goku Satsu on the tournament sponsor Gill, although he left without realizing that Gill had resurrected himself. Over this timespan, Akuma had trained relentlessly until finally harnessing his power and learning several new techniques, some that were meant to create tidal waves, some described as strong enough to split Ayers Rock in half, and one that could kill an opponent with a single strike. Akuma's self-taught technique is called the Kongō Kokuretsu Zan, in which Akuma channels all his power into one hand and smashes it into the ground, creating a vortex of energy upward around him. It is supposedly this technique that was used to destroy his original training ground (mentioned above), although this is mainly conjecture as he is not shown using this move until the 3rd World Warrior tournament, where he discovered that Gouken was still alive. Akuma continued to develop his now-incredible fighting skill, and even fought with Oro in a simple, inconclusive battle, each other sensing the other's massive chi and testing their powers. Akuma has now demonstrated the ability to remain underwater under massive pressure for extended periods of time, and has even managed to destroy a naval submarine with a technique that he has dubbed Tenshō Kaireki Jin. In Game Story Gameplay Attacks *'''Tenma Kuujin Kyaku ''' *'''Ashura Senkuu' '' Supports *'A (Projectile) Gou Hadouken (Strong surge fist) - '''Thrusting his palms forward, Akuma releases a purple ki projectile towards his opponent. *'B (Anti-Air) Gou Shoryuken ' *'Y (Expansion) Tatsumaki Zankuu Kyaku (Tornado Whirlwind Air Slashing Kick') '' Hyper Combos *'Messatsu Gou Hadou (Level 1) ' *'Tenma Gou Zankuu (Level 1) '- Akuma jumps and shoots many zanku hadokens out of his hands. *'Shun Goku Satsu (Level 3 )'' (Instant hell murder) - ''The screen flashes with light and violent strikes are seen. Akuma and the opponent reappear, with the opponent face-down on the ground covered in violet flames and the kanji character for sky is burning in the background. Akuma's 2 projectile Hyper moves seem to have different versions of one another. One form of the hyper combos has Akuma repeatedly firing normal sized (or slightly larger) fireballs in a somewhat larger range of the screen, while the other functions more like Ryu's Shinkuu Hadouken, firing a single large beam at the opponent. Theme Song thumb|300px|left ''' Akuma's theme song is a remix of his secret boss fight from his first appearance in '''Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Trivia *Akuma is the second villain in the Capcom side to appear in MvC3. *Recently, there was a picture of Akuma and Ryu found in the background of the Hand HQ stage. It was originally thought it was just an Easter Egg, or that it could be a leak at his inclusion. Now he has been confirmed, it could work in the same style as Tron Bonne in the background of the Kattelox Island stage, where Akuma won't appear when he is being used by either player. *Recently, in Twitter, there was an image of a team composed of Ryu, X-23 and Akuma. Whether this is fake or his approaching confirmation as a playable character remains to be seen. *Recently, There was an artwork of him on the net along Wesker, Tron, Magneto, Dormmamu and Doom. *And all of this has been culminated as Akuma was confirmed for Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds on January 17, 2011 alongside his supposed rival, Taskmaster. *Akuma is most likely rivaled with Taskmaster, as they were confirmed at the same time. Reasons for this could be that they are both skilled fighters practicing multiple fighting arts, but their tastes in fighting differ: Akuma enjoys a challenge but Taskmaster will usually try to avoid battles he knows he cannot win. Also, both are neutral characters but are often thought of as evil. They also have a "copy" theme going between them and characters of their respectivee franchises. It is taken into account that Akuma is a shoto-clone and fights extremely similar to Ryu and Ken of Street Fighter fame. Taskmaster has the power of "photographic reflex", enabling him to imitate the moves of other Marvel characters, especially Hawkeye, Punisher, Black Knight, Captain America and Spider-Man who he mimics in the game. *In Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Akuma is reprised by Dave Mallow, who voiced him in Street Fighter IV '''and '''Super Street Fighter IV '''in English. In Japanese, Akuma is reprised by '''Taketora. Artwork MarCap2Akuma.JPG|Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes Cyber Akuma.JPG|Cyber-Akuma Akuma1.png|Street Fighter IV XMvsSFAkuma.JPG|X-Men vs. Street Fighter. Cybergouki stance.gif|Cyber-Akuma Sprite MarSFAkuma.JPG|Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter Category:MvC3 Characters Category:Neutral Alignment Category:Evil Alignment Category:MvC2 Characters Category:Street Fighter Characters Category:Capcom Characters Category:Characters